Purno may opt for Tura seat

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Shillong, Feb. 7: National People’s Party (NPP) president Purno Agitok Sangma is confident of his party bagging the Tura parliamentary seat with a possibility of the former Lok Sabha Speaker himself joining the electoral battle.

Recently, a meeting of the NPP was held at Rongjeng in East Garo Hills where several party workers expressed their faith in the leadership of the senior Sangma, NPP legislator James K. Sangma said.

“Several members of the Rongjeng block executive committee were asked to speak, and all of them reposed their faith in the leadership of Sangma and assured the leadership that they were ready to work tirelessly for the party,” James said.

While thanking the NPP workers of Rongjeng, the former Lok Sabha Speaker stated that the time had come for the Congress to get a fitting reply from the people of Garo Hills “for their failure in delivering governance, providing a secure and safe environment and the blatant corruption that was taking place”.

He also said the results of the Lok Sabha polls, which would go “in favour of the NPP”, would be the “fitting answer” to chief minister Mukul Sangma “for his misrule and misdeeds”.

Recently, several candidates who had contested as Independents in last year’s Assembly elections from various constituencies in the Garo hills had joined the NPP.

The Tura parliamentary seat has primarily been the former Lok Sabha Speaker’s bastion.

The senior Sangma’s foray into electoral politics began in 1977 when he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Tura on a Congress ticket. He emerged victorious by defeating Moody K. Marak of the then All-Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC).

Sangma went on to win the Lok Sabha elections in 1984, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2004, besides the byelection in 2006.

In 2004, he contested as a candidate of the All India Trinamul Congress.